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Groups Make Stink over San Francisco 'Biosolid' Compost
A national environmental group is focusing attention on a San Francisco program that transforms human waste into backyard compost, calling the program little more than a scheme to sling toxic toilet sludge back at the people who produced it.
A San Francisco resident picks up some biosolid compost at a giveaway at the Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant. (SF Chronicle)
The hullabaloo is over a program by the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, which once a month distributes biosolid compost
to gardeners, school groups and homeowners for free. The commission
claims the compost is heat-treated fertilizer that is as good as the
stuff sold in gardening stores.
But the Organic Consumers Association insists that the sacks given out to San Franciscans contain a stew of excrement and toxic chemicals from the sewer.
"The problem with sewage sludge or the euphemistic term 'biosolids' that they use is that all of this is hazardous material that potentially contains thousands and thousands of contaminants," said John Stauber, a member of the group's advisory board and the author of several articles and a book on sewage sludge. "Everything that goes in the sewer potentially ends up in it."
The San Francisco PUC has largely dismissed the criticisms, saying the levels of toxins found in the compost are well below federal and state standards.
"We are giving away highly treated, heat-pasteurized biosolids," said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission. "It has been tested for metals and pathogens and is basically sterile."
High-profile protests
The consumers association and another nonprofit environmental group, the Center for Food Safety, staged a protest on March 4 in San Francisco, where demonstrators dumped the compost on the steps of City Hall. The organizations sent a letter to Mayor Gavin Newsom demanding a halt to the distribution of the soil-like material, which they believe contains heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants and other hazardous material.
The leaders of the group are concerned children and others who touch the compost might swallow or absorb chemicals into their bloodstreams. They are also afraid that food grown in the stuff could be contaminated.
The dustup has since spread to Berkeley where the group last week picketed Chez Panisse and criticized the restaurant's famous chef, Alice Waters, for allegedly turning a blind eye to the PUC's antics. The demonstrators accused Francesca Vietor, the executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, of "actively promoting sewage sludge," because she is also a PUC commissioner.
Stauber has claimed that tests conducted by his organization found dioxins, flame retardants and other chemicals in the compost, but he has declined to release comprehensive results.
"They have chosen not to release those tests to the public or us," Jue said. "Yet they are willing to stand in front of a camera and say our biosolids are toxic. How can we even respond to this if they aren't releasing their information to be analyzed?"
Waters, too, hit back, accusing the group of engaging in a smear campaign that "shamelessly misrepresented her position." The Chez Panisse Foundation accused Stauber of knowingly repeating "false accusations" against Vietor.
"Mr. Stauber and the OCA have attempted to taint the reputations of Alice Waters and Francesca Vietor, both of whom have long and outstanding records as environmental advocates," the foundation said in a statement. "Alice Waters believes deeply in organic farming and gardening. Her 40 years of advocacy on this issue speak for themselves."
The issue is a complicated one. Composting has for decades been considered an ecologically sound way to recycle eggshells, lettuce and other food waste. Soil naturally breaks down such material, almost as if it was the Earth's microbial liver.
The San Francisco PUC began the composting program in 2007 in an effort to help the environment and reduce the city's carbon footprint by eliminating dump truck trips.
Compost chemistry
The program uses about 20 tons of the 82,000 tons of solid material removed from the city's sewage every year. The treated waste is taken to a regional composting facility in Merced County, where it is mixed with green yard waste and heated to 130 degrees for 30 days, Jue said.
The end product is touted by the PUC as a valuable source of nutrients that can be used to improve soil fertility, plant growth and lessen the need for synthetic sprays.
Yet critics insist that the process does not neutralize heavy metals, pesticides or drug residue. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires the compost be tested for only nine pollutants, about 1 percent of the hazardous materials that can be found in sewage. Dioxins, flame retardants and PCBs are not among the chemicals tested.
Experts, including Hugh Kaufman, an EPA waste management official, have urged people not to grow food in sewage sludge. Despite this, Stauber said, schoolchildren, organic gardeners and landscape architects in San Francisco are free to use the sewage compost.
EPA scientists are conducting studies to determine whether other chemicals should be tested in biosolid compost. Still, one EPA expert said there is no evidence that San Franciscans are in any kind of danger if they use the compost.
"None of the sewage sludge produced in California has tested hazardous under the national standards," said Lauren Fondahl, the biosolids coordinator for the EPA's Pacific Southwest Region. "About 1 percent has tested hazardous under the stricter California standard. San Francisco is well under both standards."
Jue said the PUC is conducting comprehensive tests for potentially toxic chemicals in addition to what the EPA requires and intends to make those results public.
"We want to be good environmental stewards," Jue said. "We understand there are additional concerns about biosolids, which is why we are willing to openly work" with the EPA and environmental groups. "But to arbitrarily attack us and not share the data behind that attack I think seriously undermines the credibility of these environmental organizations."
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11 Comments so far
Show All'Biosolid' compost = another WASTE product turned into a CONSUMER product. Reminds me of how the corn industry figured out what to do with its waste -> they gave us high fructose corn syrup ... just another WASTE to CONSUMER pathway.
In our town, the compost heap at the town landfill contains all sorts of unpleasantries ... road salt, motor oil, grass clippings from lawns treated with pesticides, fungicides, insecticides.
Consumer beware! Citizen beware! Things aren't always what they appear to be.
Dump enough 'biosolid' compost on your yard or your garden ... just wait ... you'll have either a mini-superfund site to clean up at your expense (unless you are a corporation and have declared bankruptcy then the government pays the tab) or you'll have a brownfield that will have to be cleaned up by the state ... again the government pays the tab. Who's money ... why it's mine, your's, our's ... not the corporation's who give us this s_ _ _ t ... because they probably didn't or don't pay much in the way of taxes to begin with.
And ... after all the lovely home-grown produce we've eaten, grown in all this lovely toxic waste ... we're all going to need really top-notch health insurance and health care providers to deal with all the lovely diseases we encounter down the road ... from our once beloved 'organic' patch in the yard of the place we once called 'home'. Maybe the implications are the reason to remain tight lipped. Also ... repeated, repeatable and verifiable analyses through independent testing by a disinterested 3rd party is the only way to get real information. Good night and good luck.
The irony is just delectable.
"Organics" groups reject compost because of organic superstitions about "chemicals" and "contaminants."
This is what happens when you believe that DOSE doesn't matter.
But, as any chemist will tell you, "The dose makes the poison."
The only thing that is poisonous at any dose is irrational "organics" dogmatism.
I also adore this quote:
"Alice Waters believes deeply in organic farming and gardening. Her 40 years of advocacy on this issue speak for themselves."
Revised:
"Alice Waters believes deeply in the Mormon church. Her 40 years of advocacy on this issue speak for themselves."
"Jue said the PUC is conducting comprehensive tests for potentially toxic chemicals in addition to what the EPA requires and intends to make those results public."
The PUC released the compost to the public BEFORE doing those tests. They should have done them first and released the data to the public. It isn't enough to say that the sludge meets federal standards, or nobody has gotten sick from it. We all know how inadequate the standards are. And once again, in regulatory issues, THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO PROOF OF HARM IS NOT THE SAME AS SAYING THAT THERE IS PROOF OF NO HARM.
If the protests forced the PUC to do the tests, good for the protesters. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
If these folks take comfort in poisoning themselves, I say, let them.
Tyrone Jue is not being very truthful when he stated, "We are giving away highly treated, heat-pasteurized biosolids," First off the legal term for biosolids is sludge and it is a solid waste by law. There is a major difference between composted sludge and heat-pasteurized sludge. Second, pasteurization does not kill all bacteria, it only inhibits their growth. As an example, even pasteurized milk will be spoiled by bacteria in a short time.
EPA's Fondahl claims, "None of the sewage sludge produced in California has tested hazardous under the national standards,". The national standard is the Solid Waste Act which states that if the solid waste (sludge) has infectious characteristics, it is a hazardous waste. Compost is allowed to contain up to 1,000 heat inhibited colonies of E.coli. These are enumerated in the fecal coliform test as the most probably number of bacteria placed on the test media at the beginning of the test.
"heated to 130 degrees for 30 days"
Seems like I recall that compost needs to heat to 160 degrees to kill most pathogens and seeds. Guess I need to brush up on my composting knowledge because I'm not sure of my first sentence. I make my own compost very slowly since I don't worry about nitrogen to carbon ratios, turning the pile much or keeping it moist. I wouldn't use this chit though.
"It has been tested for metals and pathogens and is basically sterile."
Basically sterile?
If compost was completely sterile, nothing would grow in it.
That is in no way a defense of this vile contaminating practice.
"EPA scientists are conducting studies to determine whether other chemicals should be tested in biosolid compost. Still, one EPA expert said there is no evidence that San Franciscans are in any kind of danger if they use the compost."
First let me say that I am completely on board with recycling waste materials, provided it is safe. China's night soil is a great example of such husbandry. Years ago, the main problem with night soil was harmful bacteria getting into the water. But we live in a different era, an era of solvents, halogenated hydrocarbons, manufactured goods all laden with chemical pollutants and heavy metals.
EPA should hurry up with the studies. "No evidence" is not the same as "no problem". It most likely means that a thorough investigation has not been done. They need a new set of standards to account for what you find in sludge in modern cities. I mean, for one comical example, does all that excreted Viagra coming through the sewer lines survive the heating? What effect would that have on food? And the EPA should hire independent scientists whose careers are not contingent on being yes men and keeping quiet.
Hugh Kaufman is one who recommends not using this stuff to grow food. Wise caution for now. The EPA was too quick to announce that the area around the collapsed World Trade Center was safe for recovery workers. I knew from the get-go that could not be true, with the thousands of computers, office furniture, polywhatever carpets, wiring etc. that had burned, either quickly or lingered in the smoldering smoke that lasted for weeks. Anyone who knew a shred of organic chemistry had to have such an inkling that solvents, heavy metals and other harmful chemicals would be present. What I didn't consider was the pulverized rock, plaster, asbestos and glass that embedded in people's lungs. But that was not my job, it was the EPA's. Now years later the rescue and cleanup workers are suffering and dying of high levels of related diseases. The studies are published by Mt. Sinai hospital.
This sludge and its contents have to be understood before it is distributed, especially to schools where children's cells are still rapidly dividing or to anywhere pregnant women can be exposed. These days our blood already has dozens of chemicals that were not found in blood before WW II. We must be more circumspect.
Joe
"The lists of microorganisms and contaminants that can be found in sewage and pollute a building are numerous. They range from fungi, bacteria, protozoa to dangerous viruses. *Sewage, or black water, may also be contaminated with pollutants that contain residuals from medicines, household cleaners and industrial waste.*"
I found this after fifteen seconds search. Take a look at the text inside the stars (*).
Most of that contamination is *NOT* affected by a fairly moderate 'sterilization'. *MEDICAL* sterilization against infectious pathogens is achieved by *high pressure steam* at 121 degrees *Celsius*.
"In a hot compost where the temperature exceeds *55 °C (131 °F)* for several weeks, the ability of most organisms to survive is of course compromised, and there are temperature standards, such as in the USA EPA-503 rule, based on early suppositions about this (1980-era)."
I found this information after another minute about composting. Again, notice the text inside the stars.
The temperatures reported in the article are not sufficient to eliminate dangerous pathogens, and are no where near the temperatures needed to destroy the medical/pharmaceutical effluent so common in household sewage, or the numerous heavy metals (lead, arsenic, mercury to name a few) that are bio-accumulative. Which means if you eat veggies grown with this government supplied crap, you will slowly but surely poison yourself and your family, leading to brain damage, birth defects, and in the case of the pharma effluent possible changes in sex ratios, endocrine damage, and nerve damage.
The EPA, which is supposed to oversee such material and the various contaminants, is instead controlled by the very Corporations it is supposed to monitor. The 'minimum standards' are engineered for Corporate profitability, NOT your health and safety.
Sorry, but if the OCA is involved, you know from the get-go that it's a crock of sh*t. You'll have to go to a third party to find out the facts, because OCA cares not at all for facts. It's a shame but as their leader R. Cummins once informed me when I called him on a lie, they are "not here to fight the good fight but to win." Like Blackwater, the OCA should dissolve and rename itself since it is now so famous for being entirely unethical. I'm not saying the other side is necessarily right, I'm only saying that if OCA is there jamming the airways with their noise, you'll have to listen elsewhere if you want the truth.